Guild Taxables?

[Yore Huckleberry]

I thought we'd get ahead of Schemes and Stone and @Davos and @Khyodee (whose forum handle took some tracking down!) and post our favorite taxed models to take in Guild.

My major thought as I sat down to do my own was that there are two things that make this challenging in Guild:
1) Solid Versatile picks that fill in holes. Need support? The Steward is priced for that. Need a beater? Why not a Peacekeeper? Want a henchman who will resonate with your Staggered triggers? Dr Grimwell fits the bill. And then there's one Pale Rider to rule them all: a taxi in round one, a ranged shot in early engagements, and a powerful impact in rounds 3-5 with AoE slow/burning, or leading a cavalry charge.

2) So many of your tax-picks are going to be counter-tech after the "declare master" step. So there's tons of honorable mentions, but fewer "regulars."

 

All of that said, here are things that I've found myself considering regularly, even with the tax.

 

Lone Marshal (cost 9+1) - It does one thing and does it well: destroy the world of Malifaux. MV 7 with Run and Gun (and a 14" shot with base stat 7 and a critical strike and a maim trigger) lets you generate a threat range of two potent shots at 21". It brings Ruthless automatically. It's tough to tarpit it, since it can use the built-in trigger on its free action to stagger a target as it disengages (which will then have trouble charging it after it moves away, even if it drops the MV 7 to 5), and get off two shots. Or it can get its free action to synergize with its own attack by putting Adversary: Marshal on your target if you're willing to get within 8" of it and have a decent Mask to spend. It's a Henchman, so you can't always guarantee its work, but it's a powerful pressure piece and a great target for early focus from the Guild Steward.

Allison Dade (cost 8+1) - Alison is a broad toolbox. Her Exclusive Interview bubble is good for its usual control aspects, and Allison gains fast when the opponent reveals a scheme, so she often has a significant extra AP in round 3-4. Her bread-and-butter is coming in close for an interview to get opposing models to help you score your schemes. At 9 cost with tax, she's a useful henchman for scheming. Her free-action to shield a model (including herself) has a good card-cycle trigger on a tome (not always used in Guild). Blackmail (another potential card cycler) and Derringer each have useful triggers -- Derringer can be a stat-6 min-3 shot that ignores armor for a (stone-able) crow and a bit of positioning. She's a model who can surprisingly score Detonate Charges by herself with her auto-fast.

Austringer (cost 7+1) - These are a bit niche. Their major contribution is in their 14" raptor attack from their skybound ally upgrade: stat 6, ignores cover, concealment AND LOS ... but you really need it to hit a straight flip, since the damage track is 1/3/4 (although the onslaught trigger is nice on weak damage). I like Austringers because they can stay fully out of LOS and still exert threat. They're great for Vendetta, because they can ping damage without exposing themselves for the first point, and then even if the opponent tries to come focus them down, the Austringer can discard the upgrade to fully block one attack. But the real way they fit into a list is that they pressure your opponent's pacing and hand: because their attack doesn't require them to engage, they're good for forcing your opponent to make an early decision about whether to commit a card to defending their mid-line glassy unit or supportive totem. Or they can ping the last point for Reckoning or Turf War. It's not hard to find a useful move-> concentrate -> raptor strike turn for these guys, but at cost 8, they might be getting up there in cost.

Pathfinder (cost 6+1) - Hey, another 14" gun that's stat-5 with two good triggers (tome for armor piercing; crow for slow). This damage track is 2/4/5. It's most powerful in Basse lists where ANY NUMBER of clockwork traps can take the walk action after its activation ... but even out of Basse, you can get incidental trap summoning on these guys from their free action, which takes a 5+ of tomes -- otherwise, their Follow My Path quick action is super helpful for boosting forward a beater or getting a shooter or schemer out of engagement mid-round, though it takes some pacing to master it. One great thing about this model: it shifts gears well from early game (positioning help, trap summoning) to mid-game (disengaging, defensive cloud).

Executioner (9+1) - If you need a front line, these guys are game. 9 Wounds is a lot to get through, and the combination of Hard to Kill and Juggernaut gives them some survivability if you're willing to back them up with a card or two. 2" Engagement off a 40 mm base for a min-3, stat-6 melee beater that ignores resistance triggers. Scatter is a helpful tactical action (no duels required -- not even simple ones!) if you want to Claim Jump or deny Take Prisoner or something. Trail of Gore allows them to take a walk or melee action if they can remove an enemy scheme marker ... so they're best in their home Guard keyword or helping out Nellie's Journalists. A Lead-Lined Coat makes them even heartier, but gets to be a fairly sizable investment: at that point you may just want Jonathan Reichart as a cost 10+1 henchman who's got a lure and a heal in his back pocket, along with those deadly claws.

Honorable Mention:

Guild Hounds (3+1) - Even at four stones, you'll find something for a MV 6 model to do. They die awfully easily, so protect them by giving your opponent something worse to worry about ... or use them as bait for a storm of Guild guns to seize on a melee beater?

 

Tech Picks: (many of these shamelessly stolen from other recent Guild channel threads)

- Exorcists: Ruthless, Barrier-to-the-other-world, insta-kills Summonns on trigger, removes scrap/corpses
- Jury: auto-damage to buried (Tara, Dreamer) and summons. Decent obey for mispositioning others or synergy with Lucius.
- Agent 46: Ruthless, copies Exorcist ability and can stone to insta-kill summons
- Witchling Thrall: Pulls burning off others to heal itself. Blast vs spammy lists (Gremlins?)
- Papa Loco: Edit: Destructible terrain removal (Rasputina, Euripides, Seamus+Emissary, Zipp, Mah Tucket, etc), blast attacks; demise explosive 3
- Lady Justice (!): 4" pulse that removes all conditions: anti-McMourning/Brewmaster/Kaeris, etc. 16+1 is a high cost, but if your opponent spent half their round 1 AP getting their squad up to Poison 12 and you can remove it all with walk/leap-attack/attack/pulse, it's probably worth it.
- Death Marshals: Become fast vs nearby Undead. But you aren't teching them in because you already declared Lady Justice vs Ressers, right? Maybe good against Yan Lo or Jack Daw lists that surprise you out of ressers?
- Austringers: As above, good for Vendetta
- False Witness: False Claim is great for Harness the Ley Line or Detonate Charges
- Nino Ortega with Expert Marksman: Anti-armor: He has a built in tome and plus flip to take advantage of the armor piercing trigger. Deploying from the shadows and the plus flip give him a few turns' worth of action efficiency. This is pricey tech at 7+1+2(EM), but if you can set him up well and get to him to defend him from any alphas, you may get 6-8 armor piercing shots out of your investment.

 

What else do we know, Guild?

[4thstringer]

Undercover reporter is my tax worthy take. Fastest model in guild with a powerful anti scheming ability.  And can take out armor.  

[Yore Huckleberry]

4 minutes ago, 4thstringer said:

Undercover reporter is my tax worthy take. Fastest model in guild with a powerful anti scheming ability.  And can take out armor.  

That's great! It was on my list and then I forgot to write it in. The only reason I don't take it ook is that I main Nellie! ;D

[le_wahou]

Tax worthy models in my opinion :

5) False witness : having false claim is enough to put him in a tax worthy slot. He will get you 1 auto VP on 2 or 3 schemes... if he survives long enough.

4) Lone marshall : excellent scheme runner killer, good modibility. He is also a tech piece against summoners

3) Alison Dade : good control model. She counter triggers, dishes slows and distract. She has some support with shielded and some draw. She generates pass tokens needed to get last activation on turn 5. She would be in better position if her defensive ability was not one of the weakest in the game

2) Phiona Gage : Best bodyguard in the game. Her attack is a little meh at the beginning, but it becomes good once she is in grit. She has the best guild lure with bring it, and she only needs an engaged friendly model in 6" and a 2to get one the most efficient bonus action I have seen.

1) Undercover reporter : very fast model, best scheme denial of the game and good survivability. As long as 2 schemes out of 5 requires scheme markers, he enters my teams. I believe he has more impact on games than the pale rider...

Yes, I love reporter team

Honorable mention :

Jury for obey, Lady Justice for being the best beater of malifaux, The Judge as good beater with drawing ability, and Agent 46 for mimic tricks

We also have solid versatiles :

_ Pale rider : usually the best models on board on turn 3, 4 and 5

_ Steward : best guild option for support model

_ Dr Grimwell : expensive scheme runner. Not the best beater for his cost, but still able to do some damage. Has a strong denial that is not often used

_ Peace keeper : excellent beater. He needs some help on mobility but he is very durable

[4thstringer]

A couple notes: Pathfinder is stat 5 (but still worthy imo).

Alan Reid and judge both provide card draw that might be worth it.  

Watcher feels like it might be worth looking at.  

Guardians toss is one of the best mobility tools we have.   And he's a beater almost on caliber with the peacekeeper.  Shame he's so slow himself.

[Adran]

10 hours ago, Yore Huckleberry said:

- Papa Loco: Terrain removal 

You've missed the important word. Destructible. Papa loco won't help you remove the underbrush markers from titainia, but I think the others are destructible. 

[Angelshard]

Riotbreaker for crowd control and blow it to hell. 

Guardian for a tanky beater minion with toss, scatter and take the hit. 

Queeg for his task master aura that gives fast. Especially in family, effective reckless on Fransisco or papa loco is fantastic. 

Undercover reporter because he's awesome. 

False witness as one of the most reliable ways to get scheme markers out. 

 

[explorator]

+1 on the Riotbreaker! Blow it the hell is just money vs. certain match-ups, and the bonus is he keeps enemies from taking actions outside activation.

[4thstringer]

5 hours ago, Adran said:

You've missed the important word. Destructible. Papa loco won't help you remove the underbrush markers from titainia, but I think the others are destructible. 

Doesn't work v. Pyre markers either.

[Adran]

2 hours ago, 4thstringer said:

Doesn't work v. Pyre markers either.

That's true, I didn't think to clarify that as kaeris/ sonnia/reva weren't in the list.

Ice pillars, pianos,  pit traps and coffins all are, but not sure much else is. 

[4thstringer]

1 hour ago, Adran said:

That's true, I didn't think to clarify that as kaeris/ sonnia/reva weren't in the list.

Ice pillars, pianos,  pit traps and coffins all are, but not sure much else is. 

I just thought of pyre because that's what I've been facing recently.

[Yore Huckleberry]

19 hours ago, Adran said:

You've missed the important word. Destructible. Papa loco won't help you remove the underbrush markers from titainia, but I think the others are destructible. 

Adjusted the original post to add @Adranand @4thstringer’s suggestions and edits. Thanks!

I did have Pathfinder’s gun at stat-6 mentally instead of the correct stat-5. It’s still a solid 14” shot, but I’m slightly less convinced on bringing the model in at a tax now.

[Yore Huckleberry]

Here’s an interesting one:

Phiona Gage: more a tech pick than anything, but she’s good vs Undead (hard to wound) and bubble crews (Bring It lure), particularly M&SU (ignores positive flips to defense). The issue is that she’s got 2/4/5 melee damage ... but grit takes her up to 3/5/6, and she gets plus flips to duels if you have a scheme marker near her. Take the Hit lets her get into Grit mode a bit more at your choice than the opponent’s, and a Lead-Lined Coat can allow her to keep her initial position rather than move around.

At this point I mostly envision using her as tech vs M&SU, Yan Lo, or Leveticus crews that need particular positioning, but I like the figure more and more.

[le_wahou]

22 minutes ago, Yore Huckleberry said:

Here’s an interesting one:

Phiona Gage: more a tech pick than anything, but she’s good vs Undead (hard to wound) and bubble crews (Bring It lure), particularly M&SU (ignores positive flips to defense). The issue is that she’s got 2/4/5 melee damage ... but grit takes her up to 3/5/6, and she gets plus flips to duels if you have a scheme marker near her. Take the Hit lets her get into Grit mode a bit more at your choice than the opponent’s, and a Lead-Lined Coat can allow her to keep her initial position rather than move around.

At this point I mostly envision using her as tech vs M&SU, Yan Lo, or Leveticus crews that need particular positioning, but I like the figure more and more.

I really see her as bodyguard rather than specialized beater. In this position, she is the best model in game. Besides, her bonus action is really very efficient for a 2

[Starrius]

One model I do like to consider is the field reporter. It can scheme and vs crews with a large number of movement shenanigans I've found them to be very helpful

[Yore Huckleberry]

2 hours ago, le_wahou said:

I really see her as bodyguard rather than specialized beater. In this position, she is the best model in game. Besides, her bonus action is really very efficient for a 2

Yeah, that's for sure!

I think Guild is definitely a faction that rewards knowing where to spend your high-weaks and low-moderates from your hand, and I want to make some kind of in-depth study of that at some point.